Welcome Home
by Severen
Summary: Daughter of Roman and Mallorie, Kate Bellic returns home after seven years of no contact with her family or friends. On her arrival, she finds herself doing what ever she has to in order to help her family out. Her return will change things for her and everyone else in her life and make her wish she had never come back.
1. Message

_"The time is 9:19 AM on August 6th, 2033. Its another beautiful day in Liberty City and-"_

The man in the grey suit turned the radio off as he turned off the bridge into Algonquin towards Middle Park . Despite what that idiot said, it was not another nice day in Liberty City. It was dark for 9:00 AM. And the people looked just as miserable as ever. The years had not been kind to Niko Bellic and his current home.

His phone rang once. Twice. A third time and then he picked up.

"Yes?"

"Niko! Its Mallorie!"

"Oh, hello Mallorie. How are you?" He thought about how full of energy she still was. 25 years had not aged the woman at all.

"Oh, I'm fine honey. And yourself? What are you up to?"

"Nothing much. Just taking something over to Roman's. I had to pick it up at Eric's house first."

"Oh, really? Okay, I haven't talked to Roman in a while. How is he?" All of a sudden she didn't seem so energetic. But melancholy and concerned.

"Well, he's fine. Don't worry about him. He's been a little extra busy at the cab depot." Recently since the Liberty City Taxi service had been shut down due to a strike Roman had gotten a boost in business.

"Glad to hear it, Niko," she said," could you have him get in touch with me as soon as you can?" He detected a bit of urgency in her voice.

"Sure I can. Is everything okay?" He said while stopping at Colombus Ave and Quartz St. He took a quick look around like he always did. The street he was driving on was completely empty. He spotted an old couple walking a dog, a young man wearing sunglasses who looked like he was looking for a song on his MP3 player, a group of men dressed all in black singing a gospel song at the park, and some children in their school uniforms crossed the street.

"Yeah, actually I just got some really good news!" She said with genuine happiness in her voice, this lifted Niko spirits up a bit as he hadn't heard her this happy in a while.

"Really? What good news?" He took a look around, he found it strange that the light hadn't turned green but he ignored it. He just wanted to know what made Mallorie so happy.

"Well, I didn't want to say anything until I talked to Roman. But I think it will be okay if I tell you first."

"Tell me what? What is going on, Mallorie." He asked with a hint of desperation in his voice. Any good news nowadays would do wonders for him.

"Well," she started," I got a phone call about two hours ago. You will never believe who it was from." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"Who was it?"

"It was Kate!" She yelled excitedly

Niko's eyes widened in surprise and shock and relief. And he could feel his eyes beginning to water up. "Kate called you?" Nobody had heard from his niece in years. He had assumed a while back that she was dead, but never had the heart to say it to Mallorie or Roman

"Yes, she called and you'll never believe it. She's coming home!"

His niece. Kate Bellic. Was coming home. "She is? When?!"

"Oh my God," started Mallorie,"she said she'd be here tomorrow. And that she would explain everything to everyone when she got here."

"Jesus, Mallorie," said Niko," this is great. I'll try to get a hold of Roman and have him call you!"

"Thank you, Niko."

"Well, how did she sound?" He asked.

She stayed quiet for a bit.

"Mallorie?"

"Sorry Niko," she started," that's the thing that had me take so long to call you. I was a little worried."

"Why? Was it something she said?"

"No, she didn't say anything bad had happened her," she said," it was just the way she talked."

"How did she talk?" All of a sudden Niko found himself very concerned.

"Well," she began," her tone. Sounded a lot like you when you first got here."

He got a bit confused and thought about it for a second," Well how did I sound when I first got here?"

"Like you were holding back a lot of pain and anger."

Niko stayed quiet for bit, now he was really worried. What could she be holding back? What had she gone through in the amount of time she had been gone? "Well lets worry about that later," he said to cheer Mallorie up," I'll call Roman right now and get him to call you back."

"Okay, thanks Niko!" She said, again sounding excited.

Just as Niko hung up the light turned green. "Phone," he spoke loudly," call Roman." And just as the line started to ring he looked to his left and noticed the light there had not turned red. It took him a moment to realize what was happening and just as he tried to hit the gas, a car hit him from his right.

The car spun around and Niko hit his head against the window, glass went everywhere, and his airbags deployed. His vision blurred. When the car stopped he tried to regain his composure but it was too hard. His ribs were in pain along with his legs and head. He looked around and noticed the men who were singing the gospel songs earlier were walking towards his car. It took him a while to realize but they were carrying guns. He tried to lean forward to grab the glock under his seat but, his seat belt stopped him and he he grimaced in pain. His ribs were definitely broken. The men were getting closer and closer. Slowly, he unbuckled his belt and leaned forward to try to grab the gun again. Luckily he found it. And as quickly as he could he pulled it out and fired through the windshield at the goons. He managed to get two of them before the other three ran for cover. Niko opened the passenger door and crawled out he could see people scrambling to get away, bullets hit his car and a few almost hit their mark. He fell out to the side of the car as one grazed his back. It burned but he did his best to ignore the pain. He got himself to his knees and peeked over the car to see where the men were. They were behind the car that had hit him. He looked up at the stop lights and noticed that they were blinking rapidly. He tried to make sense of what happened but was snapped out of it by some more bullets hitting his car. He ducked down and moved to the trunk of his car, he crawled and tried to see if he could hit any of their feet.

No luck the car was pretty low to the ground, and they were pretty well covered. He fired two rounds to see if that would draw any of them out. It did, all three got up and fired at him. He got back and stayed low while glass fell on him and that loud clangs hurt his ears. From what he could tell they were all using Uzis. He knew they would have to reload soon and that would be his time fire back a few rounds. He checked his clip, he had four rounds left, and an extra clip in his jacket pocket. He slowly got to his knees trying not to cause himself any pain. He leaned against the car door and breathed heavily waiting for the shooting to stop, it seemed to go on forever. But then just like that it finally did. Then as quickly as he could he got up, he felt slow and heavy and thought they would get him as soon as he got up, and he he fired his remaining four rounds quickly, he went to reload and realized he was still standing up in plain view. He cursed quietly at his sloppiness and got down quickly expecting to hear gunfire. But to his surprise as he reloaded he didn't hear anything. He waited a few minutes before looking up very carefully. He didn't see anybody. Then he fired off a round, but nobody fired back. Where did they go? Did they leave? What was going on? He rested his hands on the roof of the car and looked left and right but didn't see anything. He was about to tuck his gun into the back of his pants when all of a sudden, a shot rang out from behind him. He felt hot metal tear through his right shoulder and it made him spin around and drop his gun at the same time. He struggled to stay up and leaned his back hard against the car. He looked straight ahead and saw the shooter, not too far away from him. It was the guy he had seen with the MP3 player earlier. He walked towards Niko very slowly he stood about ten feet away from him and lowered his gun. Niko looked at his Glock on the floor. He would never be able to pick it up in time, so he just looked at the young man with the gun. Why didn't he just kill him? It looked like he was waiting for something, but he couldn't read his face, his sunglasses covered his eyes so he couldn't quite tell his expression.

Then the man raised his gun and fired four shots in quick succession. Two at his left leg above the knee, one at his stomach and the other at the right side of his chest. Niko quickly tumbled forward and fell on his side. Blood poured out of his wounds quickly, and he started to have hard time staying conscious and breathing. In a few seconds a small puddle was forming around him. The shooter walked forward and very gently nudged him onto his back with his foot. Niko tried to stay awake so he could see what the guy looked like up close. He squatted down, and looked around and then directly at Niko. He could feel the shooter's eyes looking directly into his through the sunglasses. The man's skin said he had just come to Liberty City from somewhere sunny, his hair was black, he had a scar on his right cheek, and a tattoo Niko couldn't make out on his neck. Finally the shooter spoke to him.

"Hey Niko," the man said, his accent was American," I'm gonna get right to the point because I got a feeling you won't be awake much longer. I need you to do something for me."

Niko tried to say something but couldn't speak.

"Don't worry it's nothing strenuous," said The Shooter," I need you to-" he stopped to put his finger into Niko's shoulder wound to keep him awake," hey stay with me. I just need you to deliver a message."

Message? Thought Niko. What message?

The Shooter wiped his forehead getting some blood on it, but not seeming to care," Tell Katherine," he began," I'm here. And that she's not safe." Niko's eyes widened, this guy was coming after Kate?! He would kill him before he let this guy touch her," until then I need you to stay alive to give her my message, after that you can die." The Shooter stood up and pulled a device out of his pocket," See you around... or maybe I won't." And then he walked away.

Niko looked up to the sky while tears welled in his eyes. What the hell was going on? He tried to stay conscious," No you son of a bitch!" he yelled," Stay alive! Warn Katie!" He heard sirens approaching," Just until they get here come on!" His eyes got heavy, and just as the paramedics arrived, everything went black.


	2. Is it really you?

Kate Bellic looked out the window of the plane as it descended, the the city that looked like a toy or a model was looking more and more lifelike by the second. Very quickly could she see cars moving, billboards with commercials playing on them, and people like little ants scurrying about their lives. All the buildings were pretty much the same. There was a new one here and there, but they looked out of place, like a band-aid on a fresh cut. She wondered how fresh they were. She had heard in recent years how the city wasn't doing all that well. A bit behind on the times. She had thought about coming sooner, but with everything that she had been up to until now, that was impossible. Even if she could have come, in all likelihood she wouldn't have.

She could hear people in the plane praying. For a safe landing, for a chance to see their families again, their friends, lovers. She could hear the prayers being spoken in all kinds of different languages. And she understood most of them. Her years away from her birthplace had changed her. She might have only been 25, but seven years in the kind of life she had lived taught her things that couldn't be taught on some ghetto street corner. Or even a police station. She'd promised her mother over the phone that she would explain everything about where she had been and why she had left. This wasn't true. There are just some things people wouldn't want to know.

The plane landed safely on the ground and there was some scattered applause for the pilots, about 20 minutes later they were letting people out. As she started pulling her duffel bag out of the over head compartment a big guy in a suit probably twenty years older came up to her,"Hey gorgeous," he said," need some big strong...,"

She let him get about that far before she pulled her bag out and told him with no waver in her voice,"Fuck off, fat man." And then walked out of the plane without giving him a chance to say anything further.

Glancing at her, one might underestimate Kate Bellic. Being about 5'8 and with blonde hair, a pretty face, and an athletic looking body. Take a closer look and you wouldn't just see an athletic woman. You would see a woman in peak physical condition. A hoodlum might see her walking down an alley and see a perfect victim, but should that hoodlum try something stupid, they would have to crawl their way out of it, or they might not leave the alley at all.

Kate made her way out of the terminal in some casual inconspicuous clothes. Some jeans, a long sleeve shirt, a dark brown jacket, and some sunglasses. She didn't need to look for anymore of her luggage, her duffel bag was all she had brought with her. She looked around to see if she could spot her mother, hoping that seven years hadn't made her unrecognizable.

To her right at the airport entrance she saw a short Puerto Rican looking woman holding up a sign, she moved back a little to see what it said: Kate. She walked over, slowly at first and her heart beat getting faster, sped up until she was a few feet away. Mallorie didn't notice the woman to her right until she heard her say," Mom?"

She turned to face Kate, as soon as she saw her she dropped her sign and brought her hands to her face,"K- Kate?" She said in disbelief. Kate removed her sunglasses so her mother could get a look at her eyes," Ay, Dios." She said as she began to cry, burying her face in her hands. "Is it really you?"

Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath," Yeah, mom. Its me." She was unprepared for when Mallorie ran at her and gave her a big, strong hug. Kate stood there caught off-guard she dropped her bag and very slowly put her arms around her mother. She finally smiled. And there they stood holding each other for a while, and Mallorie wept bitter tears of happiness and sorrow.

Finally Mallorie pulled back and looked up at her daughter with a smile, "My God, Kate what did you do to your hair?" Kate smirked a bit and tried to reply but was interrupted,"Oh, God never mind," said Mallorie as if something bad just entered her mind," there's no time for this!"

Kate just stood there confused,"What's wrong mom?"

"It's your, Uncle Niko!" Mallorie said while holding back more tears and looking away.

"What's wrong with my Uncle?" She asked worriedly. He and Kate had been really close before she left Liberty City

"He's," Mallorie began with a stutter,"He's- He's..."

Kate put her hands on her mom's face and forced her to make eye contact," Mom," she began intensely," take a deep breath and tell me: what happened to my Uncle?" She steeled herself for the worst.

Mallorie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled," Niko was- He was shot yesterday."

Kate clenched her eyes and fought to keep tears away, they didn't come. She took a step back and turned around. Mallorie reached to her but Kate raised her hand quickly to keep her away. Mallorie jumped at the gesture but she left her daughter alone. Once she had regained her composure Kate simply and very calmly asked,"Who killed him?"

Mallorie mentally berated herself for being so stupid, and smacked herself on the forehead," Oh God I'm such an idiot!"

Kate turned around to look at her mom," What are you talking about?"

"Niko's not dead," Mallorie put her hand on her forehead and sighed,"he's in critical condition and unconscious. But he's alive."

Kate rolled her eyes and rubbed her face with her hands," Fucking hell, Mom. Why didn't you say that first?"

Mallorie was taken aback at the outburst but understood why she had reacted this way," I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

Kate saw her mother's expression and walked over to console her. She put her hand on her shoulder and looked in her eyes,"It's okay, Ma. I understand." She turned and picked up her duffel bag then looked back at her mom," which hospital is he at?"

Her mother quickly replied, "Holland Hospital Center. My car is right out here in the parking lot."

As they turned and walked out the doors of the airport Kate said,"I'll drive."


End file.
